Nymphadora Tonks's Sorting Ceremony
by morganmcnamee
Summary: This fan fiction surrounds the character Nymphadora Tonks during her sorting ceremony that will demonstrate her character and life pre-Hogwarts, and pre-Order of the Phoenix. I wrote her as shy and insecure to give readers a chance to imagine how her life at Hogwarts evolved her into the confident and strong women KKR wrote her to be.


Fan-fiction Assignment

Morgan McNamee

"Nymphadora Tonks," I heard a loud voice yell that echoed through the Great Hall as the other first years and I were standing in, awaiting out fate. I put my head down and mumbled under my breath, "don't call me Nymphadora". The voice came from an older lady standing on the platform positioned at the front of the four rows of tables. She was dressed in green robes and a wide black hat that covered her face completely when she looked down to read the list of names. She stood tall and proud.

"Professor McGonagall" I head a gingered hair boy behind me say. "My brother William said she's tough as nails. He's a Gryffindor; and that's where I intent to be too!"

Their conversation continued, but I focused my attention forward. I knew what I had to do. Walk up and be sorted into my house accordingly. Unlike the boy behind me, I had no idea which house I was going to be sorted in… but I sure knew which one I wouldn't be. A stain in the bloodline, I've been called. My whole wizarding family had been sorted into Slytherin, but I didn't see that happening to me. Slytherin rarely ever accepts half bloods, and even when they do, I doubt they would want me anyway. My whole family, all but one had been sorted into Slytherin, and the one who didn't, my uncle Sirius, was never accepted into my family home again. Not that it would make much of a difference. My extended family haven't made an effort to get to know me or even except me as part of the family. Right from birth I wasn't found worthy of the Black name.

I step up on the platform and turn around to sit on the chair centered in the middle of the stage. Beside me was a table, and on it was an old, large, black hat. The Sorting Hat.

I would give anything to transform myself to anything else right now. A cat maybe. No a bug. A tiny spider that couldn't be seen that would allow me to scurry out of this room. I never had many friends, and I only knew a handful of people in this ginormous room by name. I was considered weird. Not many people could change everything about their physical appearance in the blink of an eye. Not many people wanted to be friends with a freak.

The chair behind me is tall, and I lift myself up in order for me to sit properly upon it. I don't think anyone noticed, but I stretched my legs ever so slightly to prevent myself from having to jump. I didn't try to. Living as a metamorphmagus for the past eleven years of my life comes with some habits I can't even control sometimes. Nothing big. When I can't reach the top shelf, I stretch out my arms. When I'm out in Hogsmeade with my parents I change my hair colour and basic face symmetry to be ever so slightly unrecognizable. I was a loner, and I liked it that way.

The chair was warm from the dozens of kids who have sat there before me. I look up and see endless rows of faces looking at mine. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, yet somehow I felt everything but. I keep my head down as who I now know as Professor McGonagall places the hat on my head. I wonder how long it would take. For some students, the hat wasn't on their head for more than half of a second before it would shout out one of the four houses in which the student belonged, while for others it could take up to a minute. There was no way in telling how long it was going to be on mine.

I stopped to think. I already know Slytherin wouldn't take me; or at least I hoped they wouldn't. I didn't want to be seen as a stain on the bloodline of a family who represented this house like none other did. Gryffindor? Maybe. I didn't think I was really that courageous. I took every chance I could get to disguise myself to be unrecognizable. Maybe this hat could see something inside me that even I couldn't. Hufflepuff? Possibly. I was kind, patient, I rarely lose my temper. Yeah I could see myself there. Ravenclaw? Yeah maybe that too. I'm smart. Well, I'm not dumb that's for sure. I enjoy improving my mind through reading, I'm not one to shy away from a challenge.

I wait. When the other students were being sorted, I noticed that although I could see the pensive movements of the hat, only the wearer at the time could hear what it was telling you. I took comfort in this. I didn't want everyone in this room to hear the hat acknowledge my aspirations and define me by them, let alone judge my character by them.

The Sorting Hat Spoke. "Hmm. Very interesting indeed. I detect a long lineage of Slytherin, that's for sure. No siblings I see. A first, to prove yourself. I can sense your potential. Academically strong, I feel. Hard working, kind, yes very kind. Strong heart, I can feel. Yes very strong heart. But where to put you."

I sat still. I didn't know what to think. How could a hat get all that out of me? Strong heart? How could it tell? I tried to clear my mind, but was unsuccessful. I could feel my heart rate increase. This is it. This is the moment that my next six years are going to play out. Wait. No. Not six years. The rest of my life! What if it doesn't work out? What if I'm sorted into the wrong house and I don't fit in? I can't remember the last time I was this anxious. Just say something. Anything! I can't take this any longer.

I take a deep breath in, and exhale. The Sorting Hat is still talking. It feels like I've been sitting there for hours.

"Hmm, let me see," it said. I find the courage to lift my eyes upward to face the crowd. "I know exactly where to put you! You belong in… HUFFLEPUFF!"

The room erupts in applause. I feel a breeze on the top of my head as McGonagall lifts the hat off me and places it back on the side table. By raising her arm slightly, she directs me to exit the stage. I look for the table under the flowing yellow and black banners, the Hufflepuff table. There is a natural walkway dividing the fellow first years who have yet to be sorted, allowing for the newly sorted to find their place in our respective tables. I walk past them all. They've stopped clapping at this point. I hear McGonagall call out another student's name, but my head is still spinning so much that I can't process the voices behind me.

Hufflepuff. That's who I am. That's who I'll be.

I take a seat beside the previous students sorted into Hufflepuff. Some of them shake my hands and introduce themselves. The table is filled with smiling and welcoming faces, and I can feel my heart rate going down as those around me make their introductions.

"Welcome to Hufflepuff, Nymphadora" I hear one of the older students say as she reaches down and across the table to take my hand.

"Please, call me Tonks," I say as I take the hand and with a huge smile on my face. She nods, also smiling, and releases my hand.

The sorting ceremony continues and I take a moment to breath it all in. I'm here, I think to myself. Hogwarts, this is my home now. I take one last look around as the last few kids are being sorted. I always knew I could be anything. I could transform myself in a blink of an eye; my hair my body, by features. I had always paid so much attention on what made me weird, and became fixated on fixing it, on changing it, or erasing it. It was always easy, change what you don't like. Maybe this will be the start of a different me, and different Tonks. Maybe, just maybe, I could find myself a place here after all.

The room became quiet. The area in front of the platform was empty, it seemed everyone was where they belonged, every first year at their perspective tables. The floating lanterns dim, and the candles surrounding the center podium brighten. Behind the podium, an old man with long white hair and a long white beard emerges. He stands there for a few minutes pensively, taking in the room.

"Welcome, all," he says in a deep yet trusting voice, "to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry".


End file.
